‘American Idol’ Season 13 Premieres To Worst Ratings Ever

Have viewers abandoned American Idol? The show returned for its thirteenth season last night with judges Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and new addition Harry Connick Jr. — and posted its worst premiere ratings ever, notching 15 million viewers and a 4.6 rating among adults 18-49, down 23% from last year. Yikes.

Entertainment Weeklynotes that the show’s ratings have been trending downward since 2006, with consistently decreasing ratings since 2010; then again, maybe it all comes down to how you spin it. Fox seemed to consider the ratings a triumph, highlighting the facts that it was their best-rated night of entertainment programming yet this season and the first time in three years that Idol outperformed its previous year’s finale in the ratings.

Still, it’s worth noting that Connick Jr.’s addition to the show has been favorably received by critics (including our own Lisa Timmons), but ultimately that may not translate into viewers — or maybe word of mouth will pick up and everyone will jump back on board the Idol train. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?